Louis Riel – Martyr, Hero or Traitor?

[petros]

This is worth watching:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=Wi81BvwrHPw

 

[JLM]

Louis Riel was a madman in the grips of manic religious delusion.. who would have been lost to history if the the Canadian government hadn't hanged him and turned into a martyr for separatist causes for the ages.

I always thought he was a hero!

 

[bill barilko]

I always thought he was a hero!

Same/Same

 

[Curious Cdn]

Louis Riel was a madman in the grips of manic religious delusion.. who would have been lost to history if the the Canadian government hadn't hanged him and turned into a martyr for separatist causes for the ages.

If he had been half English, half native instead of half French/Indian and had still done a lot of the same things, he would have been, at best, a dangerous criminal. Quebecers and more specifically, the Catholic church in Quebec, made him "one of their own" to be used in their own political manoeverings.

 

[petros]

If he had been half English, half native instead of half French/Indian and had still done a lot of the same things, he would have been, at best, a dangerous criminal. Quebecers and more specifically, the Catholic church in Quebec, made him "one of their own" to be used in their own political manoeverings.

He was a hardcore Jesuit.

 

[Curious Cdn]

He was a haedcore Jesuit.

Indeed, he was. A hardcore Anglican could easily have led the same rebellion but it would have been perceived very differently without those puppet masters in Montreal writing the history.

 

[petros]

Riel saw it as a fight against the oppressive Protestants.

 

[Curious Cdn]

Riel saw it as a fight against the oppressive Protestants.

Yes, partly ...
against opressive Orangemen, more specifically.
As an independence movement for Manitoba, Metis, the important part was his "mixed" heritage, The Cree, Stoney and probably almost all of the Metis couldn't have given two squats for Protestants, Catholics or any of that. If that is all that Riel was fighting for, he pulled a confidence trick on thousands of native people.